Gee,I was just talking to a fellow yesterday about eating carp. He's been brought up fishing and hunting etc. (SC) He sure didn't recommend it and I doubt I would eat it anyway. They are bottom feeders. Catfish are too but the farm raised stuff isn't all that bad.

When we were younguns I had 9 sisters and 2 brothers and not much to go around .[ain't cryin the blues , just a fact.] Anyways , where we lived carp was not considered edible either.
I remember when someone gave mom some big carp she cleaned them,
boiled them and deboned them useing a fork and her fingers. She then
made Salmon patties outta them . After all the spices and cornmeal
and flour were mixed and fried ,it was GOOD.. I was never able to tell the difference between carp and salmon if they were both cooked like that.
There were a many folks that eat salmon patties at our house that
were actually eatin Carp Patties and most had seconds.. Hemi..

Ps. I don't eat any in the past few years because it is just too much trouble.

carp have a long tradition of being eaten in europe. if any of you are of eastern-eurpoean descent, your ancestors ate it as part of celebrating christmas and at other times of the year as a regular component of their diet. i can refer any of you to recipes that are hundreds of eyars old for carp, if you deisre. they are still eaten quite a bit in those same areas.

in the US, smoking carp was and still is a long-standing tradition. in many parts of the country. catfish are also bottom-feeders but people have been eating them in across the world for millenia and continue to do so today. there are many, many other species of fish that are not classified as bottom-feeders, yet eat whatever they can find, on the bottom or otherwise. we eat them every day.

it's just a fish and fish are made of meat. whether it tastes any good or not is up to the person eating it. use the same cautions that you would use with any other fish regarding pollution etc and if you don't want it to taste muddy, than catch/eat it in the winter, spring or early summer. if you are starving, then eat all you can catch, regardless of the time of year.

folks look down on eatin bottom feeders. Ain't nothin compared to what a chicken or hog will eat if given the chance. there ARE some religious
taboos about eatin pork here and there .

ain't too many folks will turn down either pork chops or chicken. but the same people will turn down catfish or carp.

It all seems to be in the preperation and presentation.

When I was in Uncle Sams Missguided Children and across the pond I learned real quick that if U KNEW the food was safe to eat U tasted it
and if U liked it U eat it. NO QUESTIONS!! might just get a little green around the gills Hemi..